Episode 5

music features. Yeah, you want to make some music videos? Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Womp womp. Funny enough, what we're going to talk about today, I wish I could say I had full attention the entire hallway, but normally I zone out partway through and I get snippets, but for the parts that I heard, it was brisket. That's pretty cool. My week was pretty solid. You left for the weekend. Also two of my other closest friends left for the weekend. Basically everyone that I hang out with left for the weekend. So I was just a lone wolf inside the dorm. So Saturday I got up, went to eat, came back here. I was kind of sitting around for a while. When you're in that isolation point, you're kind of just by yourself for a long time. But then I decided we need to get out. We need to do something. So I decided to walk over to the Catholic Center, over to Adoration. That's a decently long walk from here and the weather wasn't too great, but I just felt the need to go. I didn't know how long I was going to go for, but we step in there and we're just pouring the heart out to Jesus. I think it was about 15 minutes afterwards. I didn't know how long I was going to go in. I didn't know how long I needed to stay. But after those 15 minutes, there was a moment where I was like, okay. I think I've accomplished what I need to accomplish here. I need to go back out into the world now. Go back and live life. I just felt renewed and satisfied and ready to go fight the fight. Ready to battle the world. Ready to just live. After that, it was just a really good time to reconnect with God. It really has helped the past few days. Since that moment, I've been a lot more connected to God. I'm glad I completely changed the tone real quickly. I forgot that you were the person that refuses to say wolves as wolves, but you say wolves. I said it was a lone wolf. A lone wolf. I promise you guys, he knows it's wolves, but he purposely says wolves. No, it's wolves. It drives me nuts. Wolves. I can't say it. I can't say wolves. You just did. It's wolves. Wolves. Let's go through it. Ready? No. We're going to go ahead and dive into the first segment today. Our quote comes from Robin Williams. This is it. There's always great stuff out there. Even mistakes can be wonderful. Initial thoughts. I'll shoot at you first. I'll try to catch you on your feet. What's going on? I was reading this book this morning. It's called... You gave it to me. It's got questions about faith. Then it's got answers for you. I forget what the book is called. Basically today, it was talking about how there's a bunch of religions around the world. God sprinkles little bits of truth in all of them. Only Christianity has the full truth. This made me think of this. There's always great stuff out there. These other religions... There's a lot of discrimination between them. In reality, we all can be learning very valuable things from other religions. It was talking about how... I don't remember which one it was. Which religion it was talking about. This one has great meditation. This one has... One of them is great with teaching us how to follow government. Follow the elderly. Not the elderly, but your elders. Your family members in that society. In a driven way. That was one of the religions. This one made me think of that. How there's great stuff out there. There's truths in other religions that we can learn from. That doesn't mean that we follow those other religions. But we can learn valuable things and incorporate them into how we follow our religion or follow God. One I really stuck with was meditation. It's one of the best things that we really can do. One that I've been trying to get across to our Bible study when we've been there. And to you as well. Quiet, silence, solitude, meditation. It's really good for you. It's very enjoyable. Just sit there quietly with your thoughts. Be either in nature or inside. Listening to nature or just being by yourself. Not listening to anything. Just having good thoughts. If you're outside connecting with the creation. That is my initial thoughts. I'm going to flip it to you. So I don't ramble too long. I'll go to you. I remember you mentioning that part about silence. So if any of you all know me personally, which most of you all don't. You would know I'm not known for my silence. Because most of the time when you're around me, there is no such thing as silence. I like to talk a lot. I like to be involved in the conversation. And most of the time when I am in silence or by myself, I'll throw on music. Or I'll just try to do something that's going to keep me going. Most of the time it's stuff that just makes noise. I find peace in the noise sometimes. For me, I worked a lot over the summer on a farm. And I found that my silence came through sitting on a tractor. And sometimes I wouldn't even have headphones in. Because I like to listen to podcasts on my headphones. Because I like to learn while I'm kind of double passing, honestly. But I would just take off my headphones a lot of the time. And just listen to the white noise of the tractor. And just stare off into space while doing work. And just think. It could be about anything. Sometimes it can be an overwhelming amount of thinking. And I'd overthink things. So that's why I started to put on music instead. Because I found myself starting to kind of stretch myself out. And it got to the point where I was like, yeah, this is too much thinking. And it would be about random stuff. Something as stupid as like, oh my gosh, I forgot to take something out of the fridge. Or something like that. And so I just decided to fill it with music. And I think my therapy for me, personally, is music. And I know yours is sports. And your therapy is really just watching guys battle it out in a football game or something. And I enjoy it too. But I don't view it as that way. And I know a lot of the times you'll talk to me and you'll be like, yeah, I don't really understand how you like this so much. How do you see this much in this song? And I'm like, because this is my therapy. This is what helps me think. And I definitely think that comes with you through your sports drive. No, I agree with that. Because I see things in sports that a lot of people don't see as well. So that, I never really thought about it like that. But that makes sense. But I think an interesting part of what you're talking about, about overthinking. I think another aspect of that, that is so great with meditation, is you start to understand why that overthinking happens. If you have to deal with it more, you're like, okay, why am I thinking of this? What is the real cause of it? You're able to figure more things out about yourself. So that when other things happen in your life, then you're like, oh, I know why this is happening. And this is me thinking today, just literally a couple minutes before we started the podcast, just about something else. I think the root of that is wanting satisfaction. I don't remember what it was, but I know that. That was the root of it. I was like, okay, so whenever this comes up, I need to remember that the only thing that is truly going to satisfy me is God. Exactly. So just having that in my mind to realize that, okay, when that's coming up, it's because there's a deeper longing for satisfaction. The devil can use those opportunities to try to tell you or convince you that other things are going to satisfy you. And he's lying 1,000% of the time, because none of that stuff will ever satisfy you. There's good stuff that you can enjoy, for sure. That is not sinful. But then there's definitely stuff that can destroy it. That leaves you even more broken, especially in those moments when you're like wanting satisfaction. And then you do the thing that you think is going to satisfy you. And then it just leads to even more, you know, just leaving yourself in really failure. You just feel even worse about it, because you know, like thinking back on it, you're like, okay, I knew this really wasn't going to satisfy me. But I still let my mind perceive it as that. So I think dealing with your thoughts even more, going to that next level to help yourself even more know yourself is just another awesome thing about it, too. Your take on silence is so intriguing to me, because I feel like it's very personalized to each individual. I feel like you're either a person who really likes silence or you're either a person who really likes noise. And I find that, see, you already know I'm a person that really likes noise. I find that even a lot, we both talked about this recently, we both have been struggling getting to sleep. Which is like the weirdest thing, because I never struggled with getting to sleep. Normally when I get in bed, I'm out like that. But it takes me like a good solid 30 to 45 minutes now. And I think it's the fact that I'm sitting in silence and just thinking, my brain won't rest. I am not comfortable in silence. I found that I've become so accustomed to the noise that I've become comfortable in the noise. And so when I'm approached with silence, my body doesn't know how to handle it, and it freaks out. And I was talking to my friend and my dad about it, and he was like, the best solution is just to pray. Because you're just comfortable with one side of these things, and I feel like you're honestly missing out on part of the other. And I definitely kind of get what you're trying to say with this silence take. And I really would like to try it at some point, kind of just experiment with it. Because I feel like I need to become more comfortable with it. Because the more I take on this noise throughout the rest of my life, the more comfortable I'm going to get with silence. And I just can't sit with it. Like when I'm at a dinner table and it's just silence, I've got to be the one to talk to break it. I can't. It makes me so uncomfortable to be sitting in silence. And I don't know if it's that way for you. Do you feel uncomfortable in the noise? I think I feel uncomfortable in the silence because I've lived with a family of seven for all of my life, and it's constant noise. And so I just hate silence. But have you, do you feel uncomfortable in the noise sometimes? Does it bother you? No, I'm just like, I've been in the noise for, my family's always been. But I'm not, I don't mind. What's the word? Noise doesn't bother me. I enjoy noise as well, and I love to talk. I want to be like a sports broadcaster. I want to talk. But when noise doesn't bother me, it's really just been like this semester and a little bit of last semester just being in silence to realize just how great it is. That's made me feel this way. And for me, it was sitting, like after church was over, just sitting in church in the silence there and just thinking. And then being in adoration, that really made me fall in love with it as well. But no, I've been around noise for a long time. So no, it doesn't bother me at all. Is this just like your time experimenting with it? Like your first time just kind of really diving into it? Yeah, because I never really could be in silence either. I've always wanted something going on. And I was also bad about, well, bad might be the word, but just when my brain was in silence to always try to fill that with either being on my phone with noise or doing something like that. And so just finding time to just be off my phone or just be off of anything and just think is kind of what it's been a part of too. It's been really nice. Awesome. So as Catholics, we both have this 40-day, what do you call it? It's sort of like a season. It's Lent. And it's the time of Christ and his sort of passion story leading up to his death on the cross. And we try to honor it by giving up something for Lent. Would you like to share what you're going to give up? I am doing Instagram and letting myself to five minutes a day. Now, I'm not going to use those five minutes to scroll through reels. I just want those five minutes to post for this podcast and to occasionally, if need be, post for my other Instagram story. I don't feel a necessity to post for my Instagram. I really don't care that much. It's more about the podcast. That's why I'm giving myself five minutes because I know I need five minutes to get a post up. But I'm doing that. And then I'm trying to do the Bible in a year for 40 days straight because I know a lot of people are really dedicated to that. I'm like, that's so easy. But for me, I cannot keep the Bible in a year. Like, I'm on day 70, and the Bible in a year that I started was on almost 400 days ago. So, as you can't tell, I'm doing a horrible job at it. So, I'm trying to get back in a routine, and I feel like I can use Lent as a kickstart to that. The past two years, I've done full social media, just nothing. So, I wanted to change it up a little bit. I actually just deleted Instagram a few days ago, and I don't think I'm ever going to get back on it, to be honest. So, that's just another thing of it. But my main thing is it's going to seem, to some people that don't know me, it's going to seem pretty dumb. But for most people that do, like, have been around me a good amount, it'll make sense. I'm really, really going to try it. I've tried it a few times. It's never, like, I could never get this one to go away. But it is curling my hair and touching my hair. Golly. I mean, I've had it for probably, like, I don't know, it's like a five-year habit, maybe. And it's something I have never been able to break in my entire life. Like, I've actually been able to break, like, biting my fingernails, which I've had for, like, 18, 19 years. Like, my entire life I've done. I've had that that I was able to break, and different other things. But I cannot do it. And I'm hoping that this Lent will be the time that I can finally do it. And then the other thing... Interesting. Should I, like... Yeah. I don't, like, want you to do it. Yo, we're not supposed to be doing that. This is, like, I'm really trying to do this, and... So, like, this is full 100%. You really want, like... Yeah. Okay. So, like, one of the things we were supposed to do is not just give something up, but also fill that time with something, specifically, like, something to connect with God. And so, this might sound kind of weird, too, but I'm going to try to hold my hands in prayer when I'm really feeling like I need to touch my hair. So, just, like, right here. That's what I'm thinking. Dude, it is so bad. There will be, like, times where it's, like, so... Like, I'll just keep on going and going and going, and I... Oh, it'll make me so frustrated. But I cannot break it, and I'm really hoping this is the time I can do it. Yeah, I feel like that's such a good sacrifice, because it's personalized to you, and it's not generic. It's original. It's to you. And I feel like a lot of people, including myself, don't often take the time to think of something that's original that they could do to themselves. Like, for me, I think this is kind of the first time where, like, I realized, oh, I really struggle with the Bible in a year. I should probably do that. Like, that's the first time, like, where I haven't been like, oh, what can I give away that I use all the time? Oh, sweets. Oh, yeah. Like, that's too simple. You want to do something that's personalized to you that you really feel like, oh, this would be actually pretty difficult to do. And so I really like that, actually. Yeah, the other thing that I'm trying to do is not giving up, but is I want to devote each of my days, like, each day to a certain person that I know. And I'm going to offer, like, if I go to Mass, I'm going to offer my Mass up. I'm going to offer the prayers up. I'm going to offer all my sufferings up and then just pray about, for that person, like, each and every day. That's what I'm going to try to do, like, a new person each day. I'm actually, after this podcast, going to try to write down all the names because I feel like if I'm trying to think of names each day, that's not going to work. But if I set them all in stone, I think that'll be a good thing to do. So I'm excited for that one because it's really going to make me think, try to really, like, take the whole time that day to think about that person and not just be like, oh God, I pray for this person, but really try to, like, think about them, who they are, try to think of what they really need, and try to personalize each day and each prayer to the person. So I think that's going to be a fun thing as well. That just inspired me. I think I like that. I think I might do that myself, too. My girlfriend and I are doing, for Valentine's Day, since we don't get to see each other, we're going to do a full rosary and each bead we're going to dedicate to a person. Full rosary, do you mean one? Not all five. Sorry, just a rosary. Sorry, I should have clarified that. But we're just going to dedicate each bead in Antelmary to a different person and kind of really dive into the rosary in that way because since we can't be with each other, we're going to pray for the people who really need it and are with other people or are struggling with love and need a prayer. And so we're going to try and reach out through that way. But I think you just inspired me. I kind of want to do that myself. But, see, we've talked a lot about the first half of this quote, which is crazy because going into this I kind of thought the second half would be, or really did think the second half would be what we would talk about. But, let's go into it. Even mistakes can be wonderful. Even mistakes can be wonderful. I saw this initially and I was like, you know, this is kind of genius. I feel like a lot of people make mistakes and then just go on and slant downhill. They don't realize that this could just be a booster for you to learn and grow with it. Instead, they just go downhill more. And it's really sad to see that once people hit this wall and they make a mistake, they kind of just forget about everything and completely fall off. And it's sad to see that because I know that there's just as much potential with them learning from their mistakes. I can look back at my life and not regret the mistakes I've made because of the person that made me today by growing from them. Because without those mistakes, I don't think I would be who I am today. And I'm not saying that those mistakes were mistakes because they definitely were not mistakes because they definitely were mistakes. I made the choice and I did something that was not good or wrong. And I wouldn't be the person I am today if I didn't have those and I didn't learn from those. And it's all about experiences and we're humans so we fall. And I think it is just natural for us to beat ourselves up about it. But rather, I know if you really take the time to dwell on it, bring it up to God, He will definitely carry you in His manner into another version of greatness of yourself that you didn't think you had before. Because now He's just giving you another defense. You've seen it, you've experienced it, and you've figured out you can power through it. Yeah, I think that's one thing about maturing and going back to the silence again. Is going back to just thinking during silence about what mistakes you've made and really like what led to it. And how do you limit what led to it, take out that part of it so it doesn't even get there. As well as one of the most important things for me is not even letting the first step. Like the mistake might be four steps down the line. You cut off the beginning before the first step even happens. That's when you can cut off the whole mistake in general. So I think that's one thing about it, just thinking about it a lot, reflecting on it. And I think that's one thing that the devil just tries to manipulate. Is when you make a mistake to just make you feel so awful about it. And instead of thinking about it like, okay, it's over with, but now I've got to learn from it and move on from it. And then, I think that one thing that can be really hard as a Christian is to focus on not sinning. And that is your focus. You think that, okay, this is how I follow God, by not sinning. Now, you are not supposed to sin, God doesn't want you to sin. But that should be your mindset and thought behind it. And this is also from the book that I was talking about earlier, Questions and God's Answers to It. I don't think that's the actual title, and I feel really bad about it. Anyways, so talking about that, instead of your focus being not sinning and worrying. It mostly went to that aspect of it being that you worry about sinning. You worry about fearing, or you're fearing about sinning. And that just causes so much chaos in your mind. And the pressure is so bad on yourself that eventually you're going to mess up. And then, once you put all that pressure on yourself, all that worry and fear, and then you still mess up. Then it's going to make you feel even worse about it. So, if you focus on loving God and loving people. And there's a great song about that, Love God, Love People. Gosh, I don't know if it's by either. All my references are showing myself right now, but I can't give credit where credit's due. But that's one song that's been in my head for sure, is Love God, Love People. And it went to another great analogy about it, in that the commands, and God's commands, and the commandments. And not sinning, like not doing that, that is loving God. And so, if you just focus on Love God, Love People, that's what He wants us to do. That's what He wants us to do. That's what He said is the greatest command. When Jesus was on earth, that's what He said. But if we focus on that, it takes even, what are you doing there? You're telling me to look up the song? Love God, Love People, Danny Gokey, okay. Danny Gokey, great song. You going to turn it on? Okay. Yeah, go a little farther. Go a little farther. Hold on. Where do you want it? Right there. Where do you want it? We're going to copyright it. Why did you do that? Our podcast is going to be taken down. There we go. We're done, guys. Sorry. See you later. Anyway, Love God, Love People. And so, just take the worry and fear out of sinning. Just focus on Love God, Love People. And this has been really good for when temptation comes into your mind. And just getting it away really fast by not focusing on it, not worrying about it, not fearing it. It's just going back to, okay, Love God, Love People. Figure out how to do it, how to love. And boom. You know, I find it really interesting. I'm kind of glad I watched this book. It seems like you're actually getting a good bit out of it. I haven't read it myself, but it looked really good. So I was like, you know, I think Kazari would have liked this. Great. I love it. I was talking to one of my best friends. I have multiple best friends. But one of my best friends' dad, he was around a lot when they used to live down here, had mentioned this. And you made a pretty good, solid point about it. Not about the Love God, Love People. It's about sinning. And once you feel ashamed about the sin you've committed, that's when the devil won, right? Because the second you feel ashamed about it, that's when the devil's like, he's actually taking over. You're starting to get it in your mind, and you're starting to freak out, and you're starting to fall off. That's when the devil wins, is once you start to feel ashamed. Because you make mistakes, but you shouldn't be ashamed of your mistakes because you are inspired by God to drive forward and get through those mistakes. You don't look back, you go forward, right? Now, it's important to recognize the mistakes that you've made in the past and how you've gotten through them each time. So if you make it again in the future, you know, I've done this, I can do it again. Like, it is that sort of drive that you must carry on, this sort of familiarity. Because if you're familiar with it, you can grow and get through it a lot easier because you've experienced it before. And I think it all boils down to that. Once you feel ashamed of what you've done, you have, you know, the devil's won, right? Don't feel ashamed, grow through it. Grow through it. I promise you, thousands of other people have gone through what you're going through. Like, it is not uncommon. We all are human. And a lot of us probably all do really bad things. We all do stupid things. It's what makes us human. And I think a lot of people fail to recognize that. Yeah, I think another thing about it is the way that it can make you feel ashamed can take you away from doing your purpose for God. Exactly. Especially with, you know, just speaking to other people because you feel that you're not worthy or because you've done certain things and you're ashamed of it. Then you're not going to be able to spread the message and the love of God. And one of the great messages and love is because it doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter how hard and bad or whatever mistakes that you've made in your life. It's still like Jesus can still reach you and save you and love you. And I think that's one thing that's been tough, like, being on the podcast for the past month is really having to struggle with the conviction of, you know, being ashamed. Like, oh, my gosh, I've done this or that. Like, how am I allowed to be up here to be speaking on a podcast? And why would anyone even want to listen to me when I've done these things and different things like that? It's really like a guilt trip, to be honest with you. Yes, it is. We don't feel worthy to be up here. No, not at all. I'm always sitting there like, I don't know why anyone would want to listen to what I'm saying. Like, just in general, why would anyone want to listen? And then I go to the fact that, like, okay, I've done so many things or whatever that it may be. And it's like, should I even be up here? Like, do I even deserve to spread the message? But that's part of spreading the message, the fact that God's changed and transformed us and helped us. And I would say, to be honest, this is going to sound a little bit unhumbled, but, like, we have a good knowledge of the word, Catholic tradition, and, you know, how to incorporate the Catholic Christian message into, like, everyday quotes, which is, like, not the easiest thing to do. But it's been like a true gift to both of us that we have the minds to be able to do that. And I think the struggles that we've went through and the different mistakes that we've made have paved that way so that we can relate so many different books, so many different things, so many different aspects of life. Like, we could go all the way. We could go from pride, grief, lust, lying, disobeying parents. I mean, we could give so many different examples of how to relate to so many different things because of all of our experiences, which is why I think mistakes can be wonderful because you don't learn anything from winning. I mean, the Chiefs, they won 11-6 and won the Super Bowl this year. They had their worst regular season in years, and they just won the Super Bowl beating four of the best teams in the NFL on the way there. They learned from so many mistakes this season, and they take them all the way to the pinnacle of the NFL. So, I mean, mistakes are where you learn. That's where you become so great. And I remember going back to the Alabama football season. When they lost to Texas, I was like, well, actually, before the season, I predicted they would lose to Texas and then they'd go on to win the national championship because I was like, Nick Saban learned so much from his losses in the early season. Then he learns from going 11-0 and then having to face Georgia in the SEC championship. He hasn't learned anything. His team hasn't had to face any adversity or anything like that. So, learning from mistakes is a fantastic thing. I totally agree. Totally agree. All right, guys, we're going to go ahead and move into our second segment. That was probably the longest first segment we've ever done, but I think it was definitely well worth its time. So, we will be going right into the Shepherd of the Week. All right, so for today, we wanted to bring it back to a more personal level again. We are trying to kind of stagger it around, get somebody who's more popular, more well-known, and then we mention somebody that's kind of more personal. Each of us, that way we can relate to you guys on a more personal level as well because some of the people we are mentioning as our Shepherd of the Week are the people that are listening, and it's really neat to kind of see that. Evan, Evan, hey there. I said his last name wrong. That's his real last name. Hey there? Hey there, that's what he told me. If I messed up again, would I mess up again? Oh, it's hey there? You didn't know. I thought it was her. No, yeah, there's our team, though. I thought it was her, her. No, hey there is what he told me. Hey there? I hope I'm not wrong again. That's what he told me. Anyway, it's heaven and hey there? Why are you making fun of it? Because I never would have thought of that reading it. It's really h-e-r-b-e-r. Hey there. But wouldn't that be h-a-y? I don't know. That's what he told me because I messed it up. Dude, why has he never told you this? Hey there. That's so messed up. That's so wrong. Oh my gosh, why wouldn't he tell me that? If we got it wrong again, I'll be so upset. He's going to be coming up tomorrow and he's going to be like, yo, not cool, man. Not cool. Anyways, today we wanted to talk about our best experience with high school coaches and or just coaches in general, or just coaches in general. I'm going to go ahead and say mine. Mine is, his name is Coach William Calvert. So going into high school, my mom, not forced is the word, highly encouraged me. She encouraged me to do cross country. Now, being a young mind, I was like, you know, that doesn't sound like a horrible idea. I don't think I knew what I was getting into. I didn't really know what cross country was. So I showed up in cruddy tennis shoes. Figured out that the start of our practice was like a three mile warm up. And I was like, oh my gosh. And so I remember going throughout the first season of cross country and crying a couple times because I didn't want to be there. I woke up and I would be crying and I was like, this is so miserable. Why am I even doing this? And that's kind of how cross country was for 7th to 10th grade. It was miserable. I really hated it. But the reason I stayed and the reason I stayed committed to that sport was it was a lot of it as a team. I really enjoyed the camaraderie and being part of that. We had a really good team so it was neat to win stuff, especially with the unathletic person I was as a 7th to 12th freshman. So I was pretty bad at sports in general. But it was good to be a part of those teams. But the main reason I stayed, and I told a lot of people this, it was Coach Calvert. I told a lot of people if he quit or he retired, I would quit cross country. And that was the honest truth. He was the only reason I stayed. He was, in my opinion, one of the best coaches of cross country that you could ever have out there. He taught us perseverance. He taught us diligence. He taught us respect. He taught us loyalty. And many, many other things. He taught me how to grow as a person as well. It wasn't just cross country. I learned from him as an individual in the way he carried himself and put it into my day-to-day life. It was just so inspiring to me to see the person he was today. He ran a lot in high school as well. But he didn't even run until, I think, if I remember this correctly, he told me senior year he ran. And he had a phenomenal season. He was a freak of nature. And he went on, I think he ran the Boston Marathon is what he told me as well. And he was involved in a lot. He won the state championship. I think he had the PR for the 5K in the state for a while. And it was just so crazy to see this. And he was so humble about it. The entire time he was talking about it, so humble about it. My buddies and I are, while he's telling us his time, we're just over there, like, mouths wide open. Like, this is ridiculous, dude. Like, this guy was a freak in high school. He was fast. And so, just the humility and all of that together really helped me grow as an individual. And I loved my junior and senior year. I can say that I loved cross country junior and senior year. But I hated it. But I loved it. The fact that there was love is what counts. Because 7th to 10th grade year was all hate. Maybe .1% love. That's what kept me there. But 11th to 12th, I would say it was 50-50. I enjoyed it. Alright. I'm out. I'm out. Okay. So, Mai has got to be my high school football coach. Not only was he one of the greatest coaches that I've ever had, but he is by far one of the greatest men that I've ever met in my entire life and been around. I'm not going to lie. There's potential that I get emotional in this. But that is exactly the type of person he is, the type of real person that he can be around. There are so many different ways to go with this. So, he was a football coach, right? So, he had a one-of-a-kind intensity to him that was amazing to be around. And the way he was able to incorporate discipline, loyalty, brotherhood, but also just being able to know that your coach loved and cared about you was one of the best things ever. And the way that he incorporated high school football into growing you into a man was just amazing. And there are so many things from all my different friends. I grew up in a big high school, like football. Football is our tradition. So many of us played. And there are so many quotes from Coach Rash that we all remember. And we can picture it like that because it's just so unique of a person. And, you know, oh my gosh. There's just so many different things you can say about the guy. And I remember after my sophomore year, I decided to stop playing. And I had to go tell him in his office. And I started crying because I really did not want to stop playing for the guy because he just made you want to run through a wall. Like you would run through a wall for that guy. Without a doubt in your mind, you would do it. He'd get on you sometimes. Like there's – I remember we were playing a football game. I got blindsided, just blocked out of my mind on a kickoff. And he's like – and then the next kickoff, I missed a tackle. And he's like, you've got to be better, son. It's not even like you're – you're not upset because he's yelling at you. You're upset because you've disappointed him. Because he believes in you. He wants the best for you. And you're trying so hard to do it for him. And if you let him down, it's such a terrible feeling. But that's like what you want to do. He makes you strive to be better as not only as a person. He wants you to play the right way, not just play the best way. Play the right way. And, you know, he truly helped me to become a better disciplined man, to be honest, from that as well. And then I cannot mention him without mentioning his wife. You have Coach Rash and then you have Julie Rash, two of the biggest well-known people from my high school. Ms. Rash was there for years as a coach – as a teacher, English teacher forever. And then Coach Rash was there as a coach for so long, I believe she ended up with eight state championships. And I believe they coached for 16 years as a head coach. And he won the state championship half the time. So he's got dynasty. He's got a lot of rings. But his wife, wow, like she also is one of my favorite people absolutely ever. The first time that I stepped into a classroom with her was my sophomore year. They just started a broadcasting class. And I'm going to relate both this real quick to how they helped me to be here. So for Coach Rash, it's like helping me be a man, helping me want to help other people and to be the best version of myself. It's helped me to grow and learn and learn discipline and make me want to be here. And then for Ms. Rash, I definitely learned boldness. I have never learned boldness from a person greater than her for sure. She did not care what she said. She was going to speak her mind about whatever it was because that's just who she was. You were going to get the real version. That's like I said, you get the real version of those people. It does not matter. They are going to be who they are and stick to their guns. And that's one thing I absolutely loved about them. And then the way that they would, you know, if their emotions came out, their emotions came out because they were real. And Ms. Rash as a teacher was a lot of fun. They're both crazy, but crazy in the most awesome way ever. And, oh, my gosh, I've learned so many different things from them. Ms. Rash not only in class, she helped me astronomically with my English and reading. And then just as people, I will always remember how those two people helped me in my entire life. And, man, I'm so thankful that they are in my life. And both very Christian people as well. We always say they are our father before our name. That was awesome. And then Ms. Rash, you know, me and her had a lot of faith conversations as well. Yeah, just two amazing people that words cannot express. And so many people from my high school have been impacted by those two people. So many young boys have been turned into young men by Coach Rash. So many young ladies and men have been impacted by Ms. Rash in the classroom and off the field as well. Because those people truly loved you. Those two people poured everything they had into every single kid that they came in contact with at that school. And I'm just so thankful for them. Alrighty, well, with that, we're going to go straight into our final segment because this has been a pretty long episode. So we're just going to hop right into the end. I think we pretty much got everything we needed to about the quote. So we're going to hop into our final segment. And we're going to keep it pretty light-hearted today. You know, this has been a pretty deep conversation. So we want to ask each other questions. And it's going to be more personal but comical. I got a good one. I got a good one. Okay, go. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. What is your favorite Valentine's memory from your life? Favorite Valentine's memory? Yeah. To be honest, I don't really have any Valentine's memories. I have mine. Go. I don't really have anything. There really hasn't been anything. Mine has to do with my chef world of the week. We were at junior English class with Ms. Rash. And she has those Valentine's traditions. There are all those Valentine's traditions. And one of my friends is dating somebody at the time. But he's the only one in the class. She's in a different period. And Ms. Rash is showing him how to slow dance with his girlfriend on Valentine's Day. I still have a video of it. It just popped in my head. That's a funny memory right there. Her just slow dancing in the middle of the class with one of her friends. It was a good one. I think with Valentine's Day, I think the best part about Valentine's Day half the time, obviously Valentine's Day was great last year with my girlfriend. We really don't do a whole lot for Valentine's Day, to be honest with you, because we feel as if we should honor each other and kind of recognize each other in our relationship on a day-to-day basis. And it doesn't need to be singled out for one day. And we do recognize each other. We do try to get each other something every year. This year we decided to do the rosary instead. But we try to make it more on a day-to-day basis. But last year, it's always so funny, because I go to a really small private school, and most of the time you're not really supposed to show PDA in the school or have any really public display of affection. So Valentine's Day is really funny all the time because so many guys bring in chocolates. And the amount of awkwardness from half the guys at my school bringing chocolates to different women at the school is the most funny, entertaining experience you can ever get, because these guys really don't. There's not many of them that have a lot of experiences with having a girlfriend. And it's so funny to watch. I really like it. And because I can see myself doing that as well, because I am not the best with women as well. But I have a lovely girlfriend, and so I cannot complain. But, okay, let me switch it up with you. Mine's going to be very generic. It's favorite ice cream flavor. Let's keep it real. Favorite ice cream flavor. You know, I bounce back and forth, but one of my favorites is mango sorbet. Mango sorbet? That's really random. Oh my gosh, it's so good. It's so fire. You like mango? Love mangoes. Did you try it with tahini on it? Do you know what tahini is? I don't know. Oh my gosh. I'm not Hispanic, so I don't want to butcher this for any Hispanic listeners out there. But it's this, like, Mexican spice. Oh my gosh, dude. Watermelon, mango. Yeah, it's like a sweet, but spicy. Yeah, I think I've heard that. They don't know. Oh my gosh, dude. I'm telling you. You got to try it on like a, sometimes you put it on cucumbers too, honestly, but like watermelon. My mom loves it. But like, it's so good. But if you do, try it with that ice cream. I think I've actually had it with mango sorbet ice cream. I'm not a huge mango guy. I like it, but I'm not like, I don't like, love it. Watermelon's what I would dig that it does. My favorite flavor is probably going to be, as a child it was rocky road. I don't know, do you know what rocky road is? Yeah. It's rocky road, I guess because it has marshmallows. It was like the sweetest one. It had like marshmallows, almonds, chocolate, caramel. I mean, it had everything. Today, I don't really know what my go-to would be. Have you tried the Dr. Pepper Blue Bunny ice cream? It's Dr. Pepper float ice cream. Like, you don't have, it's liquid. It's literally Dr. Pepper float flavored ice cream. Interesting. It's really good, actually. I had no critiques. It was a good ice cream. Like, it tastes just like a Dr. Pepper float. It's weird. Valid. Yeah. All right. Well, I would like to say one final thing to finish off this episode. Coming into this episode, I was tired. I was annoyed. He was talking a lot. I was not exactly happy with him. We come in. All that's written on my piece of paper right now is the quote. There are no notes ready for this episode. Personally, I think this was one of my favorite episodes. I think this was probably my favorite episode. That was a great discussion. It's just crazy how God works in that way, dude. It's just wild how that works. Because, yeah, before this, we were laughing. I don't know how this is going to go, dude. I might fall asleep all day. I might close with this. But what we talked about with mistakes, right? This episode, we thought going in to do it today, we thought it would be a mistake. Yet it turned out to be one of the greatest episodes we've ever released. We'll see you all next week. That was funny. I actually really loved that episode, man. That was pretty good. I felt like we talked so much better with each other that episode. I thought that was actually legit. Holy frick, man.